Helen Hansen and Virginia Steinemann wrote in
From the Widow's Walk that the Kingsbury Block was built by the heirs of Abel Kingsbury West at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and Washington Row about 1894. It was built in the Commercial style of architecture, featuring bay windows. O.S. Alcott's “gents furnishings” was an early business in the Kingsbury Block. In 1923, the southern portion of the building was demolished to make way for the building of the Commercial National Bank. The northern portion of the Kingsbury Block was sold to Tenants Realty, and would later be the location of the S.S. Kresge Co. and the H. & S. Bakery.
The Kingsbury Block was home to dentists, physicians, attorneys, insurance companies, and many other businesses. C. J. Pascoe had a photography studio in the Kingsbury Building for many years.
In 1907, when the Ohio State Medical Association met in Sandusky for their annual meeting, Dr. William Graefe and Dr. H. C. Schoepfle, as well as dentists Dr. William S. Deeley, Dr. D. D. Smith, and Dr. J. K. Douglas all had their offices in the Kingsbury Block.
A photograph of the directory of the Kingsbury Block was taken about 1920.
To read more about the history of the Kingsbury Block in Sandusky, see article 43 in
From the Widow's Walk. The Sandusky Library has several years of Sandusky City Directories which also provide valuable information about the former residents and businesses in Sandusky.
I used to work at ComputerLand (housed in a chunk of the old section of the Kingsbury block) in the late 80s early 90s. We used to store stuff upstairs in those offices - the sign board in your third picture was still up there in 1992. Wonder if it is still in there. It was way cool to see it back then.
ReplyDeleteKeith, the sign is still there as of 2016.
ReplyDelete